Three Muslim inmates at Sterling Correction Facility are suing guards, alleging one gassed them with pepper spray in a prayer room and two others threatened them against getting legal help.

The suit alleging several violations of the inmates’ constitutional rights was filed by high-profile Denver lawyer David Lane on behalf of the new Colorado Lawyers Civil Rights Coalition.

The incident in question occurred in April 2016 when inmates Donell Blount, Cecil Mason and Terry Phillips went to the classroom where they hold their weekly prayer service to find it occupied by Officer Ethan Kellogg.

His boot-exchange was usually held on a table in the hallway, according to the complaint. Kellogg allegedly became hostile and ordered the the inmates to go back to their cells. About 40 minutes later they were told over an intercom to return to the classroom. When they walked in they were engulfed with pepper spray, according to the lawsuit.

“As the plaintiff inmates streamed out of Classroom A, gasping for air, they saw the defendant Kellogg laughing at them, apparently pleased with himself for having released a full blast of pepper spray into the relatively small room immediately prior to the Muslim inmates entering because and only because they were Muslim,” the complaint alleges.

The Department of Corrections won’t comment on the case because it’s a matter of pending litigation, said spokesman Mark Fairbairn.

“If you want to judge a society go visit its prisons and institutions that serve the least among us,” Lane said. “Guards do things like this because they think they can get away with it.”

Lane said the men initially tried to file the suit themselves but couldn’t afford the fees, so his firm stepped in. He’ll only get paid by winning and having the prison system pay his legal fees.

The case is the first in Colorado for the Lawyers Civil Rights Coalition, which began in December and has grown to more than 150 lawyers that aim to push back on what they see as President Trump’s assault on civil rights and civil liberties.

Lane is one of the best known attorneys in Colorado for handling high-profile cases and long-shot complaints. He recently went to court to force Denver International Airport to shorten its seven-day waiting period for a permit to protest at the airport.

The complaint stemmed from a local protest of President Trump’s travel order banning refugees and visitors from seven predominantly Muslim countries, which was later rescinded.